Michelle Harrolle, USF | “Beyond the Classroom. The Ecosystem of Personal and Professional Development”

While we can all agree that curriculum and classroom work is important, most career development occurs outside of the classroom. When hiring managers and recruiters are looking at two equally qualified applicants, who are they going to hire? The applicant who sent the handwritten thank you note? The one who had a personal referral from a mentor in the industry? Or the applicant with the impactful online brand with 1,000 followers on TikTok? Or the one who had the most inspiring online presence during the video interview? Or the one who… 

At the University of South Florida in the Vinik Sport and Entertainment Management Programme, we have developed an eco-system of personal and professional development encompassing seven main areas. 

Social and emotional essential skills  

While often called “soft” skills, the social and emotional essential skills for a successful career in the sport and entertainment industry are grounded in building relationships and developing interpersonal skills. Our faculty, especially Dr Janelle Wells, leads our Power Placement initiative. Within this programme, our students meet four times throughout the year outside of the classroom to build these essential skills. We focus on communication, such as how to conduct an informational interview, meeting someone for the first time, understanding body language, and thank you cards.  A perfect example would be our hand-shake discussion. We spend over 20 minutes discussing handshakes, practising handshakes, and giving feedback on handshakes, because first impressions have such a strong impact on success in the job market. Moreover, our students learn about the importance of gratitude and growth mindsets, and read books (e.g., Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dweck) outside of the classroom for their professional development. Our faculty dedicate their time assisting students to become more self-aware (e.g., DiSC assessments) while encouraging them to have courageous conversations, work on their priority management, and learn the power of their voice.  

Mentorship  

We have all succeeded through the help of others, thus mentorship is embedded within three main areas of our community. First, our seasoned, second-year students are paired with our incoming, first-year students the first week of classes. These mentors provide a sounding board, an “expert” of our programme for our incoming students to ask non-school related questions and develop lifelong friendships. As with many other universities, our second type of mentor is our faculty advisors who really assist with skill development. Faculty meet with students at least once a semester, and then students must “drive the bus” and learn to be an exceptional mentee. Lastly, we pair up all of our first-year students with industry professionals, many who are our alums. These mentors guide our students through the career process, are a sounding board for interviews, and assist our students with job placement and personal development.  

Relationship building  

Our industry is all about relationships!  From day one of the programme, we stress the importance of relationships and teach specifically about cultivating and stewarding relationships. Students are taught how to connect with someone they do not know, how to respond to emails using BCC, and then are personally connected with industry experts via faculty connections/relationships within the industry.  During orientation, students are encouraged to check LinkedIn, look at the faculty connections, and ask to be connected with an industry professional within our network. Afterwards, faculty personally connect students and the beginning of a beautiful relationship begins. Students follow up throughout the year and work to maintain these relationships to build their own professional communities. Additionally, as a part of the Power Placement programme, the faculty facilitate 80+ virtual interviews with 35+ executives from around the world to provide practice and additional connections for students headed out to the market.  

Personal brand  

With our constant connection to the digital world, students must focus on their personal brand, especially their online presence. During orientation, our programme provides professional headshots for each student. After an extensive digital footprint review, students update their resumes and LinkedIn profiles consistently within intentional sequential courses and assignments throughout the year. Within our marketing course, students are required to create meaningful content to push out on numerous social media channels and tag our programme. Our motto is “you are selling yourself every day!” and we prepare our students for this accordingly.  

Community engagement  

Within our university, college, and programme, each student is expected to increase their cultural and global awareness. While all of our courses have a focus on DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) teachings, our students take a social issues course, dedicated to 20 hours of community service projects in our local community. For example, our students have worked with the YMCA, Special Olympics, Junior Achievement, and Metropolitan Ministries, within the course.  

Global and cultural awareness  

Our vision is for every student to travel internationally and present a major business strategy project to a corporate partner. In years past, we travelled to London and our students presented partnership campaigns to Harlequins FC while learning about the cultural experiences in all parts of London and Spain. These experiential opportunities are the most impactful for a student’s development and the memories built are the most meaningful to our students.   

Wellness 

While we recognise that we are not mental health and physical wellness experts, our faculty and fellow students encourage students to be aware of their overall health and encourage them to seek help as needed. As a part of our students’ semester discussions on their personal and professional development plans, students reflect on their health goals. Due to our open dialogue and open-door policy, many students feel comfortable sharing very personal information. Faculty are there to listen, provide direction to resources on campus, and assist in any way that we can.   

 This eco-system is built on relationships, among all of our stakeholders – students, faculty, alumni, and partners. Our network is strong because our community is built on trust and care for one another. Together, we all have a relentless commitment to developing the next generation of talent and helping students reach their dreams.